Marijuana could join apples, corn and other farm-grown produce available at roadside stands in New York state.

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Saratoga Springs, recently introduced A.8893 to modify the state Cannabis Law to allow licensed marijuana growers to sell minimally processed cannabis from roadside stands located on the farm where marijuana is grown.

“This bill would create a narrow exception to the prohibition on direct sales by permitting farmers who grow marijuana under an adult-use cannabis production license to sell their minimally processed product from a single on-farm stand or building,” Woerner wrote in her legislative justification.

The slow approval of legalized marijuana dispensaries has hurt the state’s licensed marijuana growers, according to published reports. Statewide, the Associated Press reported in June, there was estimated to be hundreds of millions of dollars worth of unsold cannabis, about 80% in the form of cannabis oil, according to the Cannabis Association of New York, a trade group. There are concerns the smokable flower would eventually become too old to sell. At the time, another year’s crop was ready to harvest.

The lack of sales has been a particular problem for small farmers who were counting on being able to sell their first crop to pay for their second year of operation. Woerner’s bill aims to help those farms by allowing them to sell their product themselves while the state gets its legalized dispensaries up and running.

Allowing farmers to sell their goods on-site has been a good business model in the past. According to the 2017 U.S. Agriculture Department Census of Agriculture, New York is third nationally behind California and Pennsylvania in roadside agriculture sales at $584 million.

“New York is one of the national leaders in promoting direct sales of agricultural products by farmers to consumers, thereby making small farms more profitable than they would be if they sold through a wholesaler,” Woerner wrote. “However, the state does not permit farmers who hold an adult-use cannabis production license to sell directly to consumers. Even though recreational marijuana became legal in New York in 2021, the roll out of dispensaries has been slow and many farmers have lost significant amounts of money waiting for a retail outlet where they can legally sell their product.”